Abstract
Global health endeavors in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have traditionally emphasized humanitarian relief and primary care. Increasingly, specialty services, such as critical care medicine, are recognized as key components of sustainable, effective health care systems, even in settings with constrained resources. We illustrate the successful implementation of critical care services at Hawassa University teaching hospital in Ethiopia.
Highlights
Since its inception during the poliomyelitis epidemic in the early 20th century, critical care medicine has focused on continuous, multidisciplinary care for patients with organ insufficiency and life-threatening illness [1]
The arrival of a critical care specialist demonstrates at least an 11% improvement in overall mortality for the critically ill patients treated at Hawassa University (Table 1)
Traditional approaches to public health have focused on primary care development, preventative health measures, and disease-specific elimination
Summary
Since its inception during the poliomyelitis epidemic in the early 20th century, critical care medicine has focused on continuous, multidisciplinary care for patients with organ insufficiency and life-threatening illness [1]. There remains a large gap in necessary care in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), where the global burden of critical illness disproportionately falls [2]. The unmet need is evident, little data exist to assess the introduction and outcomes of critical care programs in resource-limited settings [6,7,8,9]. More than 50% of LMICs lack any published data on their intensive care unit (ICU) capacity [10], and the World Health Organization does not track capacity to care for critically ill individuals or global ICU bed availability [2]. In order to revisit the challenges and opportunities in providing critical care in low-resource areas, we illustrate the clinical outcomes at one hospital in Hawassa, Ethiopia before and after the addition of an intensivist physician to the hospital staff
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